


possibly, maybe i'm falling for you

by actuallyshua



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Retail, Dialogue Heavy, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Shopping Malls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24384991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actuallyshua/pseuds/actuallyshua
Summary: His eyes shifted downwards, their hands still connected. Wasted time was what Juyeon thought to himself. How this could’ve happened so much sooner if he had just found his voice, his courage.But that didn’t matter, he supposed.Because it was happening now.
Relationships: Lee Juyeon/Son Youngjae | Eric
Comments: 20
Kudos: 156





	possibly, maybe i'm falling for you

**Author's Note:**

> song title from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erywPdFfORE
> 
> also a good song to listen to while reading this, up to you! it's a classic, imo
> 
> ANYWAY
> 
> thanks for clicking on this! it's my first tbz and was written on the whimiest of whims. 
> 
> i used to work at hot topic so this was a jarring walk down memory lane
> 
> hope you enjoy ~

Juyeon hated his job.

Well...

He hated parts of his job. He hated mothers with their bobbed haircuts complaining that the music was too loud. He hated the expired coupons that customers swore still worked. He hated being yelled at by a twelve year old for running out of size small Naruto t-shirts. He wasn’t in charge of inventory.

But Juyeon often tried to find the good in things.

He enjoyed the company of all of his coworkers.

Sangyeon, with his kind smile and even kinder eyes, who could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman wearing white gloves. Changmin and his ability to always pick the radio station that Juyeon needed to hear. Younghoon and the way he was able to out sass any customer who tried to speak to the manager.

He was the manager.

And he loved the power that statement held.

Today was a Tuesday.

The slowest retail day of the week and Juyeon’s mortal enemy. He finished restocking the store during the first thirty minutes of his shift. Had spent an hour sweeping the already cleaned floor. Another hour refolding shirts and an additional thirty minutes tinkering with their Funko Pops display.

Sangyeon was at the register, head bobbing to the music as he clicked back and forth between district emails and a very intense game of Minesweeper.

“How many transactions have we had today?” He called out from the front of the store, Sangyeon glancing up at him before back at the screen. His face was unreadable, never good news.

“Guess.”

Juyeon was a terrible gusser.

“Three?” He settled on.

This made the other laugh, sounding more bitter than cheerful.

“One. It was when Changmin was here this morning. A whopping thirteen dollar sale. Should I even bother sending out a sales report tonight? We’re going to get our asses kicked.”

Juyeon huffed at this, gesturing a hand out to the empty halls of the mall, “It’s not our fault it’s a ghost town. This place is shit on Tuesdays, they should know that by now.”

“It’s not all bad, you know?”

Juyeon did know. And he rolled his eyes at the statement, ignoring the flare up of heat to his cheekbones. He’d successfully avoided looking across the mall since he arrived, keeping his eyes busy and mind even busier.

But Sangyeon planted a bomb in his mind, ticking down to an explosion that caused his eyes to wander across the vacant hall.

Much to Juyeon’s dismay, Sangyeon was right.

Tuesday’s weren’t _all_ bad.

Because he worked the same shift as Juyeon. He had every Tuesday for the past four months.

Juyeon didn’t know his name, never found the time (Or the courage, as Changmin would chide) to ask him. He just knew that the boy with blue in his hair and lightning in his smile was beautiful.

And insanely good at getting people to walk into his store.

He found it rather smart on the mall’s part to allow a Spencer’s and a Hot Topic to be within close proximity of each other. Stores full of novelty items and everything angsty teens want to purchase to make their parents upset.

But they always had more foot traffic and Juyeon knew it was because of blue haired boy. His smile was infectious, so much so that Juyeon was caught more than once smiling to himself at the register.

Younghoon never let him forget that.

“You could like,” Sangyeon’s voice snapped Juyeon out from his stare, “Talk to him.”

Juyeon was quick to shake his head, huffing slightly as if he was offended the option was even placed on the table, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, please. I hate when you two are here at the same time. You never get any work done. There’s nothing to do at the front of the store! You’re just standing there!”

“What else am I supposed to do?” Juyeon half-shouted back, arms wildly swinging at the nothingness of their store.

“Literally anything! Younghoon left us a list of cleaning duties.”

“I already did it.”

“Stock shirts?”

“Done.”

Sangyeon narrowed his eyes at this, clearly defeated as Juyeon found a victorious smile cut his lips, “You’re the worst. If you don’t go talk to him, I’ll do it for you.”

That sounded like a nightmare.

“No, thank you. I’m going to take my break, you want anything?”

Sangyeon just waved a hand, going back to his game with a final roll of his eyes. Juyeon was quick to exit the store, keeping his eyes on the ground until the coast was clear and he made it to the escalator. The new Starbucks kiosk on the first floor was always his destination, too hooked on caffeine to ever get a real meal from the food court.

Plus, Sunwoo always gave him an extra espresso shot on the house.

The ride down was spent with Juyeon thinking of ways to impress Spencer’s boy, daydreaming of hellos and waves across the hall and what his laugh sounded like, as he kicked his Docs against the dirty step. He finally landed on the first floor, making a beeline to the redhead who was boredly stacking cups.

“Having fun?” He scared Sunwoo, who yelped and sent a cup flying too close to Juyeon’s face.

“Jesus. Don’t do that.” Sunwoo shook his head before slapping the counter, “You’re my fourth customer of the day. What can I get for you?”

“Same as always. Can I also get a venti cold brew?”

“Sangyeon having a rough day?” Sunwoo started on the coffees, Juyeon leaning against the pastry display with a laugh.

“Nah, it’s actually been really easy. I can just tell he’s stressed about our new district manager. He’s always up our asses about business as if we have any control over it.”

“Nothing a cold brew can’t fix.” Sunwoo paused and Juyeon looked up at him, “Ah, shit. Not this kid again. He always orders the grossest drinks.”

Juyeon turned his head, following Sunwoo’s eyes, before immediately turning back to the pastry display. It was embarrassing, really, how his heart immediately leapt up into his throat and his palms started to sweat.

He was quick to make his way over to the pickup counter, creating space between the two of them as Spencer’s boy approached the counter. Of course he smiled at Sunwoo like that, polite and kind. Warm. So warm, in fact, that Juyeon patted at his forehead.

“I’ll be with you in just a sec.” Sunwoo called to him, tight lidding Juyeon’s coffee.

Spencer’s boy nodded quickly, “No rush!”

Oh, how much sweeter that sound was than the Top 40 radio chimes that were playing over the mall speakers.

Juyeon wanted to hear so much more.

Perhaps it was his lucky day.

“Hey,” The sweetness filled his ears again, “You work at Hot Topic, right?”

Sunwoo snorted at the question, Juyeon glaring up at him as the barista mumbled, “What gave that away?”

“Um,” A good start, “Yeah. You’re at Spencer’s?” He pretended to question, already knowing the answer.

The smile he received was enough to make him lean against the counter for support. Sunwoo started to move a lot slower than he usually did, humming loudly and obnoxiously to himself. Juyeon told himself it wasn’t on purpose, his friend would never torture him this way.

“Sure am! I think we work similar schedules. I always see you over there. I’m Youngjae!” A hand was held out and Juyeon stared at it for a moment before doing his best to wipe his own on his shirt before their skin connected.

The last thing he needed was to be remembered as the gross sweaty boy from Hot Topic.

“Juyeon. Nice to meet you.”

It was nice. Painfully so. A name to match the face, finally.

“You too. How is business for you guys today? We’ve been dying over there.”

Juyeon answered immediately, telling Youngjae the truth, but his insides were stirring. All this time, the months of staring and walking back and forth around the front of the store, the hours and hours of his coworkers poking fun at him, leading up to this.

With his heart rattling his ribcage as Youngjae casually rambled about business and stocking sex toys and his manager taking a nap behind the register.

Sunwoo finally slid him the two coffees with a tight lipped smile, “Here you go!”

“Thanks.” Juyeon deadpanned, fixing his tone as he turned back to Youngjae, “It was nice talking to you. I’m sure I’ll see you around?”

The expression that flashed on Youngjae’s face was unfamiliar to Juyeon, the two standing a bit of an awkward silence before Youngjae beamed at him, “Do you want to sit here with me? I usually just drink my coffee alone in the breakroom but,” He paused and Juyeon was sure the entire ground below him was about to start shaking, “Could be nice, right?”

Nice wasn’t exactly the word Juyeon would use to describe the offer. More like…

Amazing. Marvelous. Magnificent. Glorious.

But he settled on nodding a few times, “Sure. We can do that.”

Sangyeon didn’t even ask for a coffee. So, he could wait. This was more important, anyway.

Juyeon waited for Youngjae to order his coffee, picking a small table around the corner of the kiosk with Sunwoo’s eyes following him, eyebrows wiggling up and down. He knew it was a mistake to confide in him two months ago. Lamenting about Spencer’s boy as he nearly cried into a Pink Drink.

A few minutes later, the seat across from him was taken by said boy and Juyeon had a half a mind to pinch himself. He was sure he’d had this dream before.

“I like the barista here. He always gives me a few extra pumps of caramel for free.” Youngjae bounced in his seat a little, Juyeon pursing his lips to keep himself from making a strangled noise at the action.

“Yeah, we’ve actually been friends for a while so he loads mine with espresso.”

“Oh, you know each other? That’s cool! How long have you worked at Hot Topic?”

Too long, really.

“Four years. I started in high school. It was an easy part time job to maintain while studying and then I just uh,” Juyeon swirled his cup around, “Never left. Maybe one day, but for now they’ve got me locked in. When did you start at Spencer’s?”

_Four months ago._

“About four months ago. I’m in university so, same thing as you, it’s easy work.”

“What are you studying?”

“Sociology! I’m not sure what I want to do yet,” He moved the straw around in his drink, the caramel swirling around it, “I just really like people, you know? So, why not study all about them?”

Juyeon couldn’t help but smile at this, his nerves slowly dissolving into comfort. Youngjae had that aura, that effect. It seemed to melt everything away. The noise around them, any random passerby, Sunwoo shuffling around the kiosk loudly. Juyeon didn’t pick up on any of that.

Only Youngjae.

“You must be one of those people who weirdly loves their retail job, then?”

Youngjae wrinkled up his face, eliciting a laugh from Juyeon, “It’s not weird! I’m not bitter and scorned like you. At least not yet.”

“I am not bitter.”

Youngjae hummed, giving him a knowing look, “I don’t know. I’d be feeling a little bitter if I had to wear pins like that.”

Juyeon was never good at back and forth. Playful banter was never really his thing. But he had to try, he’d waited too long for this. So, he flung his hand over his pin covered lanyard, scoffing with force, “How dare you? I love my pins.”

It continued like this, much to Juyeon’s delight and between the gentle laughter and light jabs at each other, he learned everything he always wondered about. He learned that Youngjae liked to drink caramel frappuccinos with seven pumps of caramel and that his manager’s name was Haknyeon.

That he and his roommate, Hyungseo, had a dog named Taco who knew how to play dead and shake not only one, but two, of his paws. He liked to skateboard, listen to loud music with the windows down, and always saved writing his class papers until the night before they were due.

He learned that his smile reached all the way up to his eyes.

That his laughter was sweeter than anything Starbucks had to offer.

That thirty minutes was never going to be enough.

Juyeon’s phone began to ring, the timer reminding him that his break was over, and despite the annoyance he felt at that, he couldn’t help but feel an ego boost as Youngjae’s face faltered when he said their time together was over.

Maybe it was just because he too had to go back to work. But Juyeon wouldn’t tell himself that.

They both waved goodbye to Sunwoo, the barista returning it with a wink to Juyeon, and hopped on the escalator together.

“Hey, maybe we can do this again? It was fun.” Youngjae smiled up at him, filling Juyeon with hope, and excitement, and every other positive emotion a person could possibly feel.

“Yeah. I’d like that.”

They reached the top, the end of their journey, and Youngjae glanced at his store before turning back to Juyeon.

“I know. I can’t believe I had to make the first move.”

The words took a moment to fully sink in, Juyeon staring at Youngjae like he’d just spoken in a foreign language. The laughter that spilled from the other’s mouth wasn’t mocking or cruel, it was as light as it always was, but it still made Juyeon twist his face up in confusion.

“What?”

“Oh, come on!” Youngjae shoved Juyeon’s shoulder, “You’re so obvious! Your store manager must hate you for all the time you get paid just to stare at me.”

Juyeon couldn’t find his words, could barely even keep his footing. Youngjae knew all this time? Oh, he could die. Bury him underneath this mall so he could spend his afterlife haunting Younghoon and Changmin by knocking over new displays and crying because of his early death by means of sheer embarrassment.

“Well,” He started, clearing his throat as he attempted to gather his thoughts, “I, um.”

“Very eloquent. I’ve always been a sucker for the smooth talkers.”

“Please stop,” Juyeon covered his face with his free hand, “I’m so embarrassed right now.”

“Don’t be! It’s cute.” Youngjae grabbed his hand, Juyeon somehow finding the courage to look at him, “ _You’re_ cute. Coffee tomorrow?”

His eyes shifted downwards, their hands still connected. Wasted time was what Juyeon thought to himself. How this could’ve happened so much sooner if he had just found his voice, his courage.

But that didn’t matter, he supposed.

Because it was happening now.

Spencer’s boy became Youngjae and Youngjae was holding his hand, calling him cute, asking him for more time.

Time together.

“Coffee tomorrow.” Juyeon spoke softly, nodding just a few times.

“Great.” Youngjae broke the contact but not before flicking one of Juyeon’s pins with a smirk, “See you tomorrow, Hot Topic.”

He had the last word, walking away before Juyeon could speak up, and he disappeared into the chaos of Spencer’s. Maybe he would tell Haknyeon about him. Maybe even Hyungseo. If he was bored enough, maybe Taco. Juyeon wanted to be someone Youngjae talked about.

Juyeon returned to Hot Topic, unsurprised to find it empty and Sangyeon still at the register. Except instead of glued to the computer screen, his eyes were on Juyeon. Wide and curious, knowing and almost mocking.

“I see you talked to Spencer’s boy.”

“His name is Youngjae,” Juyeon handed Sangyeon his coffee, the ice almost completely melted at this point, “And we are having coffee together tomorrow.”

Sangyeon let out an obnoxious _awh_ as he reached out to pinch Juyeon’s cheek, the hand quickly slapped away with a groan, “Don’t. I don’t want to hear it.”

Smart enough to let sleeping dogs lay, Sangyeon kept whatever thoughts he had to himself, except for one, “I used to hope you guys would get together but now I’m not so sure. Staring at him longingly is bad enough but what if it works out? Then you’ll be staring at him _lovingly_. I don’t know what’s worse.

_What if it works out?_

Juyeon looked across the hall again, Youngjae could be seen towards the front of the store, tasked with cleaning.

If it worked out, Juyeon wouldn’t sit in his car for twenty minutes before his shifts dreading clocking in.

If it worked out, his coffee breaks would never be lonely again.

Juyeon smiled as his eyes caught Youngjae’s, a small wave coming from the other.

He decided then that he would take back his statement.

Juyeon loved his job.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading :] 
> 
> comments, kudos, all that always so appreciated !
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/SOHNlSM)


End file.
